Visioning the Bloomingdale Trail

"Nothing happens unless first a dream." Carl Sandburg

Getting from here--------------------to there

A group of concerned citizens wanting to enhance the area formed the Friends of Bloomingdale Trail in 2003.

Visioning session started to form in March of 2007, they asked:

What could the abandoned tracks be that would enhance the area?

FBT thought that community consensus is important in the overall process of answering the question.

FBT wants long-term responsibility for citizen stewardship.

All together nowAn elevated park that stretches for nearly three miles

above 37 streets and across four neighborhoods.

Should libraries get involved with the process?

What can they do? What steps would you take?

Develop a vision Use visioning as the first tool in creating an open

dialogue within the community. Assess needs and wants by having small bilingual

visioning sessions and surveys to get everyone involved.

Work in collaboration with local organizations and community groups. Open Lands Project.

Project the vision into a future plan that residents can measure the success rate of the vision.

Visioning encourages inquiry based learning and action

Education Committee Visioning

FTB wanted to connect neighborhood schools and community service organizations with the trail project. They developed a Educational

Resource Packet tied to the Illinois Learning Standards.

4th and 5th grade students at the Von Humboldt Elementary School researched the trail and created art work that reflected their vision of

what they wanted the Bloomingdale Trail to look like.

The FBT and the Trust for Public Land sponsored an Oral History and Photo Essay focusing on the neighborhoods along the Bloomingdale

Trail.

Disability Visioning

FBT included disability based organizations in the visioning project.

Their concerns were the universal design and making the Trail inclusive to everyone.

Place to interact with the community and have freedom of movement.

Well designed ramps, slip resistant surfaces, and heat coils under the ramp to melt snow.

Community Vision Findings Trail that is a safe and beautiful place for people of all ages

and abilities to walk, run, bike, and skate free from worries of vehicular traffic.

Trail would encourage people to become more physically active thus improving community health.

Increase green and natural aspects of the communities it passes through by having native plants and a community garden with public sculpture for all to enjoy.

By linking diverse neighborhoods, the Trail is an opportunity to bring communities closer together.

Connecting the vision to design schematics

In July of 2009, The City of Chicago selected ARUP North America Ltd to begin preliminary

design and engineering work on the Bloomingdale Trail.

Visioning aids in a blueprint for the future growth and development of San Jose. It guides the City’s General Plan in the day-to-day decision-making for land use and City services. While the strategies in the vision serve as a consistent and stable framework, San José’s dynamic landscape continues to grow and evolve.

San Jose's goal is to have more than 10,000 participants, diverse in age and background.

A Community visioning workshop was held in October of 2007. Over 250 residents participated from diverse backgrounds. Local business and organizational representatives also attended.

Thirty small breakout groups were occurred in three different languages; Spanish, Vietnamese, and Cantonese.

This created a comprehensive vision for the city. City leaders and officials were also present to hear firsthand what the residents wanted.

City officials explained the context and importance of the city's General Plan, how could the Plan help achieve the goals that were outlined?

Encouraged citizen participation and action in helping create a vision statement for San Jose.

Visioning guides policy making decisions and impacts San Jose's General Plan.

Process of asking

What do you like best about San Jose?

What are the key citywide issues, opportunities, and priorities that should be addressed over the next 20-30 years?

What would make San Jose a great city 20-30 years into the future?

Recorded strengths, challenges, and opportunities for the city, on flip charts then shared with the larger group to look at.

Visioning Session Outcomes Unique community character and identity

Strong neighborhoods and a health downtown

A vibrant, innovative economy

A leader in smart sustainable growth

Multiple transportation options

Quality city government and services

An excellent education system

Environmental leadership

Why do you think that libraries are not mentioned?

Visioning the future

Northern San Jose

Northern San Jose's potential future

North San Jose's Vision * Proactively plan for growth to allow more industrial development in a way that benefits

current San Jose residents.

* Allow up to an additional 27 million square feet of research and development and office space in North San Jose.

* Bring up to 83,000 new jobs to San Jose, providing additional job opportunities for San Jose residents.

* Focus on high-tech and corporate headquarters development. * Create a rich pedestrian environment within the core area to encourage use of the transit

system.

* Generate approximately $520 million in funding for the construction of local and regional transportation improvements.

* Provide new high-density residential development (up to 32,000 units) in close proximity to employment centers.

A Vision for Rural New York

Rural New York

Mission: To chart a clear vision for the rural community and economic development to help guide policy

makers in the decade ahead.

Visioning Rural New York

Rural New York Initiative (RNYI) and the Rural Vision Project (RVP)The goal of the Rural Vision Initiative is to identify the short-term and long-term challenges and opportunities facing New York's rural communities. RVI aims to chart a clear vision for

rural communities and economic development to help guide policymakers in the decade ahead.

Policies of the past no longer provide ready solutions for rural farmers. Crafting a new vision for rural New York is vital for the success and well-being of its citizens, communities, and

regions.

To help clarify and articulate that vision, the Department of Development Sociology’s Rural New York Initiative, Community and Rural Development Institute, Cornell Cooperative

Extension, and the NYS Legislative Commission on Rural Resources (LCRR) launched the NYS Rural Vision Project in December 2005.

The Rural Vision Project Phase I report contains comprehensive documentation of not only the listening sessions but also other

information-gathering methods, including surveys and focus groups.

The report also includes faculty responses to the theme synopses. The emerging rural vision represents the diverse opportunities and challenges

to New York's unique regions.

Rural development in New York suggestsstrong networks and partnerships, pride of place, solid citizen support, engaged localgovernments, and enhanced regional coordination.

Rural Vision Project Phase I

Phase I - Listening Sessions

The project included a series of listening sessions conducted in counties across New York. Eleven regional listening sessions were held across

New York: nine in upstate New York and two on Long Island.

Listening sessions averaged 40 participants, including local elected officials, Cornell Cooperative Extension educators, leaders of non-profit organizations, state agency representatives, business owners, farmers,

social service agency representatives, policy makers, community college representatives, and school district administrators.

The Rural Vision Project's most frequently cited issues include:

* Agricultural viability

* High property taxes

* Access to affordable health care

* Youth flight, out-migration, brain drain

* Lack of capital and funding

* Workforce development and education

* Job loss and lack of living wage employment opportunities

* Development of a comprehensive, coordinated plan; collaboration between agencies, governments

* Land use and planning to combat sprawl and loss of working landscapes

* Infrastructure development, especially public transportation and high speed internet

Participants identified the need for increased opportunities for youth, senior citizens, small businesses and farms as particularly important.

The Rural Vision Project Phase II report centers on the Future of Rural New York symposium held in Syracuse July 19–21, 2006.

The event attracted over 190 state legislators, state agency representatives, local leaders, Cornell Cooperative Extension educators,

Cornell faculty, non-profit organization leaders, and other concerned citizens, to discuss specific program and policy recommendations for the

state’s rural issues and opportunities.

The symposium included remarks by Senator George Winner, Jr.; Assemblyman David Koon, chair and vice chair of the NYS Legislative

Commission on Rural Resources; Ron Seeber, Cornell’s vice provost for land-grant affairs; and David Thornburgh, president and CEO of the

Alliance for Regional Stewardship.

Visioning Rural New York Phase II

A The Rural Vision Initiative sponsors will engage in research and outreach activities with interested faculty, state, and local stakeholders.

Commission on Rural Resources will draft legislative and regulatory proposals in cooperation with legislative committees and state agencies.

Questions? Comments?